"she embarks on a journey with Toto on the yellow brick road to meet the Wizard of Oz, who lives in the Emerald City, the capital of Oz. On her journey, she meets three creatures: a Scarecrow (Kermit), a Tin Thing (Gonzo), and a Cowardly Lion (Fozzie). They are also seeking the Wizard of Oz to give them a brain, heart, and courage, respectively. The group meets various obstacles involving a deep gorge where the Kalidah Critics (Statler and Waldorf) are heckling them and a Poppy Field Club run by Clifford which nearly puts them to sleep. After arriving at"
"playing one, and Jack Gardner the other. With a steady job, Lerner proposed to his Cleveland girlfriend, Ruth Levkovitz, and they married on June 15, 1941, and settled in New York, though Lerner spent much of his time on the road with the band, doing 50 and 60 one-night-stands at a time. In 1941, when Ray Bolger (later the Scarecrow in ""The Wizard of Oz"") was a featured act with the James band at the Paramount Theatre in New York, Lerner and Bolger would do a ""challenge"" tap dance as part of the show. When Glenn Miller enlisted in the"
"The Wizard of Oz (1939 film) The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Widely considered to be one of the greatest films in cinema history, it is the best-known and most commercially successful adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's book ""The Wonderful Wizard of Oz."" It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming (who left production to take over direction on the troubled ""Gone with the Wind"" production). It stars Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, alongside Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Frank Morgan, Billie Burke, and Margaret Hamilton, with Charley Grapewin, Pat"
"have been a reason filmmaker Walt Disney chose Ebsen to be filmed dancing in front of a grid as an aid to animating Mickey Mouse's dancing in Disney's 1929 to 1939 Silly Symphonies animated short films. When Ebsen turned down studio head Louis B. Mayer's offer of an exclusive MGM contract, Mayer warned him that he would never work in Hollywood again. Nonetheless, MGM did cast Ebsen as the Scarecrow in its 1939 film ""The Wizard of Oz"". Ebsen then swapped roles with actor Ray Bolger, who was originally cast as the Tin Man. Bolger wanted to play the Scarecrow,"
"""Junior"", originally played by Ray Bolger in 1936. He also won the 1983 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Debut Performance. The show ran for 505 performances. Additional Broadway credits include ""The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas"" and ""The Pirates of Penzance"" (chorus). Off-Broadway and national touring credits include the Scarecrow in ""The Wizard of Oz"" (in 1998), ""The Robber Bridegroom"", ""She Loves Me"" as Kodaly in 1987 at the Ahmanson Theatre, ""My Fair Lady"" as Henry Higgins at the North Shore Music Theatre (Beverly, Massachusetts) in 1999, ""Little Shop of Horrors"", ""Follies"" in 2005 as ""Buddy"" and ""Oklahoma!"" (national"
"The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story is a 1990 made-for-television biographical film starring John Ritter as Lyman Frank Baum, the man who wrote ""The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"" and thirteen of the other Oz books. Also starring in this TV movie was Annette O'Toole as Baum's supportive wife, Maud, and Rue McClanahan as Baum's tough mother-in-law, Matilda Gage. John's son, Jason Ritter, makes his debut in this telefilm as Harry Neal Baum. At the time of the film's debut, O'Toole and Ritter also starred in ""It"", a TV"
"was played by Ray Bolger in what is arguably the actor's most famous role. He was originally cast as the Tin Woodsman, but Bolger had always wanted to play the Scarecrow, so he was upset about it since he wanted to switch roles with Buddy Ebsen, who was originally going to play the Scarecrow. Ebsen didn't mind the swap, so Bolger and Ebsen swapped roles. While Ray was pleased with his role as the Scarecrow, the aluminum dust from Ebsen's Tin Man make-up nearly choked him to the edge of death (causing Ebsen to have to give up that role)."
"in the Dakota Territory, only to scrap that sentence in favor of Kansas. The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story is a 1990 made-for-television biographical film starring John Ritter as Lyman Frank Baum, the man who wrote ""The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"" and thirteen of the other Oz books. Also starring in this TV movie was Annette O'Toole as Baum's supportive wife, Maud, and Rue McClanahan as Baum's tough mother-in-law, Matilda Gage. John's son, Jason Ritter, makes his debut in this telefilm as Harry Neal Baum. At the time"
"daughter of his ""Oz"" costar Judy Garland, starred in ""That's Dancing!"", a film also written by Jack Haley, Jr., the son of Jack Haley, who portrayed the Tin Woodman in ""The Wizard of Oz"". In 1998, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him. He was a Roman Catholic, and a member of the Good Shepherd Parish and the Catholic Motion Picture Guild in Beverly Hills, California. Bolger was a staunch Republican who campaigned for Richard Nixon in 1968. Bolger died of bladder cancer on January 15, 1987, in Los Angeles, five"
"from 1920-1978. Ray Bolger was among his students, later to become famous with his role as the Scarecrow in ""The Wizard Of Oz"". American dancer/choreologist Richard Holden gained his first exposure to Russian folk and character styles from Russakoff. Many dancers on tour in Boston visited his studio, known as the ""school of leaps and bounds"". It was first located in the Gainsborough Building across the street from New England Conservatory of Music and finally at 431 Boylston Street where he taught along with his wife, Regina. In 1926 he formed the Boston Ballet Concerto Company, the first of several"
"days after his 83rd birthday. He was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City. He and his wife of over 57 years, Gwendolyn Rickard, had no children. At the time of his death, he was the last surviving ""main"" ""credited"" cast member of ""The Wizard of Oz"". At Judy Garland's funeral, Bolger was the only one of her Oz costars to be present. He joined Harold Arlen, the composer of ""Over the Rainbow"", and his wife, Anya Taranda. They were reported as among the last remaining guests at the conclusion of the service. Whenever asked whether he received any residuals"
"boy and the other a Jewish girl. In addition to many American and British films, the series also featured motion pictures from Russia, France, Bulgaria, Japan, Sweden, Italy, China, Australia, South Africa, and Czechoslovakia, as well as several other countries. Other films that aired during the series run include the Academy Awarding-winning French film ""The Red Balloon""' ""Skinny and Fatty"" from Japan; ""Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World"" from Great Britain; ""Tillie, the Unhappy Hippopotamus"" from Czechoslovakia; and ""Mi-Mi, the Lazy Kitten"" from China. Actor Ray Bolger, a star of ""The Wizard of Oz"", served as narrator for some"
"starring Jim Caviezel, NBC's USA network show ""White Collar"" starring Matt Bomer, costarring on ""Nashville"", playing the lead detective, Steve Robel, on ""The Michael Jackson Trial"" on E!, a recurring brain surgeon, Dr. David Moss on ""Untold Stories of the E.R."", to such shows as ""America's Most Wanted"", ""Nip Tuck"", ""Threshold"", ""The Division"", ""The Plot to Kill Nixon"", ""The Heidi Fleiss Story"", and many more. His film roles range from independent to big budget feature films. He stars in ""The Witches of Oz"", recreating the Cowardly Lion role made famous by Bert Lahr in the 1939 classic, ""The Wizard of"
"""The Wizard of Oz"", foreshadows a famous line in that film when he says to Al Jolson, ""There's no place like home, there's no place like home"". Jolson, known for his history of supporting black entertainment, hired black vaudevillian Edgar Connor to play his buddy. The music was composed by Richard Rodgers and the lyrics by Lorenz Hart. The score includes the jazz standard ""You Are Too Beautiful"", which is played several times throughout the movie. The complete list of musical numbers in the film is: Hallelujah, I'm a Bum (film) Hallelujah, I'm a Bum is a 1933 American pre-Code"
"Ted Koppel, Robin Williams, Antonio Banderas, Leonard Nimoy (as Mr. Spock), Rob Zombie, Charlton Heston, Andy Griffith, Tommy Tune, Michael Imperioli (as Christopher Moltisanti from ""The Sopranos""), Billy Bob Thornton (as Karl Chiders from ""Sling Blade""), Stone Phillips, Michael Eisner, Brad Pitt, Don Knotts (as Ralph Furley from ""Three's Company""), Keith Richards, and Ray Bolger (as the Scarecrow from ""The Wizard of Oz""). Despite being a cast member on ""MADtv"", Kilbane did not limit himself and often did side projects. For example, while on summer hiatus from ""MADtv"", he co-starred in the Universal film ""New Jersey Turnpikes"" with Kelsey Grammer"
"Charlie Becker Karl Becker (November 24, 1887 – December 28, 1968) billed as Charlie Becker, was a German American actor. He was 3'9"" in height, and is probably best known for appearing as the Munchkinland Mayor in ""The Wizard of Oz"" (1939). Ken Darby dubbed the Mayor's vocals in the film. Becker was born near Frankfurt, Germany in the town of Muschenheim. As a teenager, he worked as a butcher, but often struggled to use the knives and other equipment, and was ridiculed by his fellow workers. When he was about 19, he began performing in travelling ""midget shows"", and"
"own reward."" After Baum's death in 1919, Baum's publishers delegated the creation of more sequels to Ruth Plumly Thompson who wrote 21. An original ""Oz"" book was published every Christmas between 1913 and 1942. By 1956, five million copies of the ""Oz"" books had been published in the English language, while hundreds of thousands had been published in eight foreign languages. ""The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"" has been adapted to other media numerous times, most famously in ""The Wizard of Oz"", the 1939 film starring Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, and Bert Lahr. Until this version, the book had"
"""The Ray Bolger Show"". The series starred Ray Bolger as Raymond Wallace, a song-and-dance man who was repeatedly barely on time for his performances. Though some sitcom aficionados might assume that her guest appearances on ""I Love Lucy"" led to a regular supporting role as Hilda Crocker on the CBS sitcom ""December Bride"", Felton had played that same character on the radio version two years prior to the television production. ""December Bride"" also starred Spring Byington, Dean Miller, Frances Rafferty, and Harry Morgan. Felton continued her Hilda Crocker role on the ""December Bride"" spin-off, ""Pete and Gladys"", with Harry Morgan"
"(roadshow) and RKO Radio Pictures (general release). A highlight of the film was the first theatrical release of a complete dance routine by Ray Bolger for his ""If I Only Had a Brain"" number that had been shortened in ""The Wizard of Oz"". The hosts for this film are Gene Kelly (who also executive produced), Ray Bolger (his last film appearance before his death in 1987), Liza Minnelli, Sammy Davis Jr., and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Pop singer Kim Carnes was commissioned to sing an original song, ""Invitation to Dance"", that plays over the closing credits. This film is sometimes considered part"
"edited out since it would slow down the film. While Bolger admitted in a 1939 radio broadcast that he was too young to have seen Fred Stone play the Scarecrow in the 1902 musical extravaganza, he told Stone on the broadcast that the first play he was allowed to see was ""The Red Mill"" featuring Stone, and that his performance in that play was an inspiration. During the scene where the Wizard gives him his brains, the Scarecrow makes a mistake in his first educated pronouncement. He recites the Pythagorean theorem stating that it applies to an isosceles triangle, which"
"Anna Neagle, with Ray Bolger in his first film role after playing the Scarecrow in ""The Wizard of Oz"" (1939). In the film ""Till the Clouds Roll By"" (1946), a fictionalized biography of composer Jerome Kern, two songs from the show are performed by Judy Garland as Marilyn Miller, representing a performance from ""Sunny"". They are ""Sunny"" and ""Who?"" Sunny (musical) Sunny is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and a libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach. The plot involves Sunny, the star of a circus act, who falls for a rich playboy but comes in conflict"
"the Wizard), and the Wizard's scary face projection. Morgan was cast in the role on September 22, 1938. W. C. Fields was originally chosen for the role of the Wizard, but the studio ran out of patience after protracted haggling over his fee. An actor with a wide range, Morgan was equally effective playing comical, befuddled men such as Jesse Kiffmeyer in ""Saratoga"" (1937) and Mr. Ferris in ""Casanova Brown"" (1944), as he was with more serious, troubled characters like Hugo Matuschek in ""The Shop Around the Corner"" (1940), Professor Roth in ""The Mortal Storm"" (1940) and Willie Grogan in"
"on ""Coach"" as university band director Riley Pringle from 1989 to 1993. He also appeared in an episode of Mr. Belvedere as an accordion player. In 2004–2008, he played Ebenezer Scrooge in ""A Christmas Carol"" at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Raye Birk Raye Birk (born May 27, 1943, Flint, Michigan) is an American film and television actor best known for playing the role of Papshmir in the first and last of the ""Naked Gun"" movies. He was the main villain in """". He has also starred in ""Due South"" as the terrorist Francis Bolt in the Episodes ""All the"
"Ball as regular radio performers. Haley returned to musical comedies in the 1940s. Most of his '40s work was for RKO Radio Pictures. He left the studio in 1947 when he refused to appear in a remake of RKO's ""Seven Keys to Baldpate"". Phillip Terry took the role. He subsequently went into real estate, taking guest roles in television series over the next couple of decades. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer hired Haley for the part of the Tin Man in ""The Wizard of Oz"" after its contracted song-and-dance comedian Buddy Ebsen suffered an almost fatal allergic reaction. He had unwittingly inhaled some of"
"as the film was Ross's final theatrical feature. In his book ""Blockbuster"", Tom Shone referred to ""The Wiz"" as ""expensive crud"". In the book ""Mr. and Mrs. Hollywood"", the author criticized the script, noting, """"The Wiz"" was too scary for children, and too silly for adults."" Ray Bolger, who played the Scarecrow in the 1939 ""The Wizard of Oz"" film, did not think highly of ""The Wiz"", stating """"The Wiz"" is overblown and will never have the universal appeal that the classic MGM musical has obtained."" Jackson's performance as the Scarecrow was one of the only positively reviewed elements of"
"""Chin Chin, A Modern Aladdin"", in 1914. In 1939, he appeared in a radio program promoting the new MGM film ""The Wizard of Oz,"" in which he got to meet the actor who played the Scarecrow, Ray Bolger, who was a great admirer of Stone's work, and although Bolger was too young to have seen Stone play the Scarecrow in the stage play, he did see Stone in ""The Red Mill"". In 1917, he appeared on Broadway in ""Jack O'Lantern"", which, according to ""Vanity Fair"" theater critic P. G. Wodehouse ""should be the greatest success he has ever had. Fred"
"Peter Finch (""Network""), Victor Fleming (""The Wizard of Oz""), Janet Gaynor (""A Star Is Born""), Curtis Harrington (""Night Tide""), Zoltan Korda (""The Thief of Bagdad""), Darren McGavin (""The Man with the Golden Arm""), Adolphe Menjou (""Paths of Glory""), Paul Muni (""Scarface""), Dudley Nichols (""Stagecoach""), Maila Nurmi (""Plan 9 from Outer Space""), Nelson Riddle (""Lolita""), Vito Scotti (""The Godfather""), Ann Sheridan (""They Drive by Night""), Constance and Norma Talmadge (""Intolerance"", ""Camille""), Eddie Little (""Another Day in Paradise""), Eddie Bunker (""Straight Time""), Gregg Toland (""Citizen Kane""), Edgar G. Ulmer (""Detour""), Peter Lorre (""Casablanca""), Clifton Webb (""Laura""), William Hurlbut (""Bride of Frankenstein"") and"
"John Michael Bolger John Michael Bolger (born June 27, 1956) is an American actor who resides in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan's Westside. Bolger can be seen in the 2009 summer release of Michael Mann's ""Public Enemies"", portraying 1930s East Chicago, Indiana Detective Martin Zarkovich. ""Public Enemies"" stars Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Branka Katic and Marion Cotillard. Universal's film was released July 1, 2009 in the US and in the UK. Most recently Bolger has been seen on television in """", """" and ""Blind Justice"". Bolger is perhaps most well known for his three-season run in the NBC hit"
"star dedicated to the munchkins on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Slover died on November 15, 2011, at age 93. He was a lifelong bachelor, and resided at an assisted living facility in Dublin, Georgia, at the time of his death. His interment was in Rentz's cemetery. At the time of Slover's death, three other munchkin actors were still alive from ""Oz"": Jerry Maren, Margaret Williams Pellegrini and Ruth Robinson Duccini. Karl Slover Karl Slover (September 21, 1918 – November 15, 2011) was an American actor best known as one of the Munchkins in ""The Wizard of Oz"" (1939). Only"
"The Wizard (1989 film) The Wizard is a 1989 American family film directed by Todd Holland, written by David Chisholm, and starring Fred Savage, Christian Slater, Jenny Lewis, Beau Bridges, and Luke Edwards. It was also Tobey Maguire's film debut. The film follows three children as they travel to California. The youngest of the three is emotionally withdrawn with a gift for playing video games. ""The Wizard"" is famous for its extensive product placement of video games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The film was also well known for being North America's introduction to what would become one of the"
"listening to one of his favorite songs, a rendition of ""Over the Rainbow"" sung by Ella Fitzgerald. Gene Wilder Jerome Silberman (June 11, 1933 – August 29, 2016), known professionally as Gene Wilder, was an American actor, screenwriter, director, producer, singer-songwriter and author. Wilder began his career on stage, and made his screen debut in an episode of the TV series ""The Play of the Week"" in 1961. Although his first film role was portraying a hostage in the 1967 motion picture ""Bonnie and Clyde"", Wilder's first major role was as Leopold Bloom in the 1967 film ""The Producers"" for"
"dropped from the cast due to illness from the aluminum powder makeup, his singing voice remains on the soundtrack. It is Jack Haley, who eventually played the role, that is seen and heard singing ""If I Only Had A Heart"", but Ebsen's voice is still heard on the group vocals of ""We're Off To See The Wizard"". In those vocals, his voice is easy to detect. Ray Bolger (and also Jack Haley) were speakers with a distinct Boston accent and did not pronounce the ""r"" in ""wizard"". Buddy Ebsen was a Midwesterner, like Judy Garland, and pronounced the ""r."" Although"
"of the Pagans"" (1935) starring Ray Mala. After directing ""The Last Challenge"" in 1967, he retired from the film industry. He died in Palm Springs, California on May 1, 1991. His two favourite films were ""Night Must Fall"" (1937) and ""Two Girls and a Sailor"" (1944). Thorpe is also known as the original director of ""The Wizard of Oz"". He was fired after two weeks of shooting, because it was felt that his scenes did not have the right air of fantasy about them. Thorpe notoriously gave Judy Garland a blonde wig and cutesy ""baby-doll"" makeup that made her look"